Review: The House of Daemon

I've had this book a few weeks now but I'm eventually catching up with doing my reviews so please excuse its lateness. 

Hibernia Comics have been producing some excellent reprint albums of classic 1980s British strips and their latest release, The House of Daemon, is one of the best. With scripts by John Wagner and Alan Grant, and art by José Ortiz, you know you're in for a treat. The serial originally appeared in Eagle Nos.25 to 47 in 1982 to 1983 and this book collects the run. 

The story is an atmospheric supernatural tale of a haunted house, but it goes beyond the usual 'ghost story' tradition to plunge its occupants into nightmarish otherworldly situations. There are quite a few twists along the way and although the horror has to be reigned in to a certain extent (because it appeared in a children's comic) it's still quite creepy and a good 'all ages' horror comic. 

The art by José Ortiz is perfect for the horror theme, creating the right tone and menace throughout, plus of course his mastery of the human figure is superb. Sometimes collections like this feel a bit 'choppy', because the episodes were never designed to be read in one book, but with writers as skilled as Wagner and Grant the serial flows perfectly. It would actually make a very good movie, but as a comic it also stands on its own as a fantastic story. 

The reproduction of the strips is top class too. Although the pages are scanned from the comics, not the original art, they've reproduced perfectly, with sharp blacks and subtle grey tones. 

The House of Daemon is available from Hibernia Books here:
http://www.comicsy.co.uk/hibernia/

Drac's back! Classic SCREAM! strips reprinted

Ireland based publisher Hibernia Comics have produced another winner in the form of an 86 page collection of a classic strip from Scream! weekly. The Dracula File contains the complete run of the fondly remembered story from the 1980s written by Gerry Finley Day and Simon Furman and illustrated by Eric Bradbury and Geoff Senior.

Scream! was a horror comic for boys published by IPC but sadly cut short after 15 issues by a strike. Even though it was only around for a fleeting time the comic has its fans who remember it well. The Dracula File, featuring Dracula in present day England, was one of the best strips in the comic, notably for the atmospheric artwork by the late great Eric Bradbury. Egmont now own the rights to the strip but have allowed Hibernia to publish the comic by special arrangement. 

The Dracula File collects all of the episodes plus material from the Scream Holiday Special and bonus features. It's available to buy now directly from the publisher. Check out their other books too. I highly recommend all of them:
http://www.comicsy.co.uk/hibernia    

More classics from the 1980s collected

Ireland-based publishers Hibernia Comics, who have previously published collections of strips such as The Tower King and The Thirteenth Floor (see here) have recently released two more books, - and they're the best yet. 

First up is The Best of Library of Death, which reprints the short self-contained horror shockers from 1980s weekly Scream! As the comic's editor Ian Rimmer explains in his introduction, the beauty of these stories is that he was able to commission a variety of writers and artists. And what talent! In this collection there are strips by Ron Smith, Mike Western, Cam Kennedy, Steve Parkhouse, José Casanovas and more. There's a couple of early Dave Gibbons strips too, which although used in the 1986 Scream! Holiday Special had originally been commissioned in 1973 for an aborted IPC horror comic.

I'd forgotten what a high standard of work had appeared in Scream! Although it wasn't a 'blood and gore' horror comic it certainly had some creepy moments of terror in its strips such as The Punch and Judy Horror Show illustrated by Brendan McCarthy.

Fans of Steve Dillon should be interested in this too, with the five page Beware the Werewolf strip illustrated by the artist from a script by Simon Furman.

The other book published by Hibernia this week is Baker's Half-Dozen, collecting the complete war serial from Speed comic (1980). 

Although 2000AD was already running credits at the time, Speed had more of a 'traditional' (ie: old fashioned) attitude about it and the creators of the strip were uncredited. There's no certainty who wrote Baker's Half-Dozen (possibly Angus Allen) but there's no mistaking the dynamic artwork by the excellent Mike Western.

The plot is typical boys' comic fare; fast moving, uncomplicated and full of potential for action at any given moment. "North Africa, 1942. Six allied soldiers led by the violent and mysterious Sergeant Baker - had formed themselves into a fast-moving desert raiding force." 

It's the powerful, tough artwork of Mike Western that makes the strip memorable. Western was one of Fleetway/IPC's top artists, - and one of the best comic artists the UK has seen. If you're already a fan of his work you'll know this book is essential for your collection. If you're not so familiar with him (he died in 2008) this is the chance to own some of his best material. 

Both The Best of Library of Death and Baker's Half-Dozen have excellent sharp printing and are squarebound softback books. Publisher David McDonald is doing a wonderful job bringing these classics back with the permission of Egmont UK. As I've said before, I think that independently licensed books like these are the only way we'll see certain British strips back in print. Let's hope Hibernia Comics continue to delight us with such productions.

You can order copies of the books from the Hibernia Comics website here:
http://www.comicsy.co.uk/hibernia/